Professional Documents
Culture Documents
II.
We review grants of summary judgment de novo, applying the
same standards as applied by the district court. See Felty v. GravesHumphreys Co., 818 F.2d 1126, 1127-28 (4th Cir. 1987). Summary
judgment is appropriate only where there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of
law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c).
In order to establish a claim under the ADEA, a plaintiff must
show that but for the employer's motive to discriminate against the
plaintiff on the basis of age, the plaintiff would not have been subjected to an adverse employment action. See EEOC v. Clay Printing
Co., 955 F.2d 936, 940 (4th Cir. 1992). A plaintiff may prove his case
using ordinary standards of proof by direct or indirect evidence or by
resorting to the judicially created scheme set forth in McDonnell
Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973). See Clay, 955 F.3d at
940.
To establish a discrimination claim under ordinary proof principles,
a plaintiff must show that he is covered by the ADEA, that he suffered an unfavorable action by an ADEA-covered employer, and that
age was a determining factor in the action. See id. at 940-41.
Alternatively, under the McDonnell Douglas scheme, a plaintiff
must first demonstrate a prima facie case. See id. at 941. If this showing is made, the burden of production shifts to the defendant to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for his action. See id. If the
defendant is successful in carrying his burden, the plaintiff must demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant's reasons
are pretextual and that the real reason was the discriminatory one
alleged. See St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks , 509 U.S. 502, 515
(1993).
In this case, Swerdloff alleges both age discrimination and retaliation on account of filing a discrimination complaint. Specifically, she
alleges that Green Spring discriminated against her on the basis of age
by not selecting her for the Director position. She also claims that
Green Spring discriminated and retaliated against her by giving her
a poor 1994 performance review which resulted in a loss of pay.
4
member and corporate communications, prepare press releases, participate in lobbying, have breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings with
various organizations, agencies, and the media, and attend out-of-state
conferences. She further contends that after taking away these responsibilities, Green Spring assigned her to tasks such as ordering promotional items, counting and sorting business cards, assembling,
disassembling, and packing away Green Spring's trade conference
display booth, preparing the employee newsletter, and stuffing envelopes. Swerdloff argues that her loss of responsibilities prevented her
from earning quarterly bonus and merit pay increases. Swerdloff also
suggests somewhat obliquely that the changes in job responsibilities
lessened her potential for promotion.
"The law affords no protection from discrimination unless there has
been some adverse employment action by the employer." Bristow v.
Daily Press, Inc., 770 F.2d 1251, 1254 (4th Cir. 1985), cert. denied,
475 U.S. 1082 (1986). Changes in duties that cause"no materially
significant disadvantage" are insufficient to establish an adverse
employment action. Ledergerber v. Stangler, 122 F.3d 1142, 1144
(8th Cir. 1997) (Title VII case) (quotation omitted). Here, Swerdloff
asserts that because of the changes in her job responsibilities, she is
less likely to obtain a promotion and receive bonuses and salary
increases. She has, however, produced no evidence to support this
contention and her claim must therefore fail for lack of proof of an
adverse employment action.
III.
For the reasons discussed above, the judgment of the district court
is affirmed.
AFFIRMED
8